15th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2021)

Published on 12/04/2021

The 15th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2021) was originally planned to take place in Düsseldorf, Germany, but due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was converted into a virtual conference. In this conference I was able to present a paper regarding the work I have been developing during my PhD which comprises the development of a Microwave Imaging (MWI) prototype for a new application: aid breast cancer staging through the detection of axillary lymph nodes. I pre-recorded a 14-minute presentation video of my paper “Optimisation of Artefact Removal Algorithm for Microwave Imaging of the Axillary Region Using Experimental Prototype Signals” and presented it live in a convened session called “Microwave Biomedical Imaging: Innovative Methods and Systems Towards Clinical Applications”.

I also had the opportunity to attend other sessions related to medical applications in different days of the conference, namely “Microwave Imaging and Dosimetry”, “Imaging Techniques and Applications”, “Medical Diagnosis and Treatment Methods”, “Scattering and Imaging Techniques for Medical Applications” and “Antennas for medical applications”. The topics addressed in these presentations included new developments in MWI prototypes for breast cancer and brain stroke detection, novel studies for other applications such as detection of bone fractures and diagnosis of spinal cord, torso and cornea diseases. All these presentations inherently included the dielectric characterisation of the tissues under consideration.

A virtual conference has some limitations when compared to a physical one but the current methodology of live presentations reduced the gap between presenters and the attendees. Presenting this paper in EuCAP was a very rewarding experience since I received feedback regarding this new prototype we are developing from the audience, from the chairs of the session and also from the reviewers. This feedback is valuable in order to understand what other authors would like to see addressed regarding this new application. Watching other presentations was also very interesting because it allowed me to learn more about what other research groups are working on regarding MWI.

I am glad to have had the opportunity to attend this conference and make my work more visible to other research groups. I would also like to thank the COST Action CA17115 for awarding me this ITC conference grant and making this experience possible.

Daniela Godinho